Rumor has that the ATI HD 4870 is coming to the Mac Pro "shortly."<br>The 4870 is a very powerful card. <br>It will definitely be the best consumer card for running pro applications on the Mac Pro.<br>It will also be faster for gaming than nVidia's 8800GT.<br>The price is expected to be around $299.00.<br>IMO, that is the best performance for the price gpu on the market. (Actually, the 4850 may be able to lay claim to that remark)<br><br>I guess the HD 4850 will also be available for around $199.<br>In it's own right the HD 4850 is a very powerful card for the money.<br><br>But I want power. I need power. I've got to have power. Give me the 4870!<br><br><br>

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I've been *very* happy with my 4850. There's nothing I've tossed at it that it hasn't run like a champ, even Crysis in DX10 very high settings, but running Crysis in 64 bit has a huge impact as well. (I've run it 32 bit and it sucks!) I don't have a ridiculously huge monitor though. <br><br>Just for fun running Q3A or Unreal Tournament I get something like 1000+FPS if I don't clamp it. It's actually faster, but I don't think the counter goes any higher.<br><br>My only complaint is about the only one you hear with these cards. I spent $50 more for a nice Zalman cooler. Well worth it though, and still less money and more performance than the card I was about to purchase. Still, all that heat is still going inside the case.<br><br>The 4850 is down to about $175 now for PC's. I'll soon get another one for Crossfire. I see overclocked ones now with what looks like small Zalman coolers instead of the stock sink. Apple needs to do something about the heat of these cards.<br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

Playing Crysis at very high settings is saying something.<br>Two 4850s in crossfire is an unbeatable combination. <br><br>[color:blue]"Apple needs to do something about the heat of these cards."</font color=blue><br><br>Problem is these puppies are coming from ATI. Apple has nothing to do with it.<br>Sounds like I'll need a Zalman cooler also.<br>I expect the Nehalem Mac Pro to be on the market either at the end of this year or early next year.<br>I am guessing that Apple will have an ATI gpu for it's high end bto card.<br>It will be interesting to see how Apple deals with the heat issue.<br><br><br><br>

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Problem is these puppies are coming from ATI. Apple has nothing to do with it.<p><hr></blockquote><p>Yes, but ATi only provides the reference for the cooler, the vendors are free to modify the cooling as they wish. Apple could put a 2 slot cooler on it.<br><br>I got the ASUS card, which has SmartDoctor that adjusts the fan speed automatically and works pretty good. As is, the BIOS on the card only runs the fan at like 10%. When you up that to say 45-50% the temps drop dramatically and it's still quiet. However playing games it cranks up to 100% and sounds like a wind tunnel. I've read you can modify some DLL's and fix the problem that way too.<br><br>I think ASUS might actually manufacture the cards for Apple?<br><br>My Zalman cooler hasn't arrived yet for the card, I actually just ordered it. Can't wait to see how much of a difference it makes.<br><br>Somehow I also got picked to test a new CPU cooler for CoolerMaster, called the V8. I like it so much I kept it on in place of the Zalman 9700 I had installed. It's running full speed and you can barely hear it and my CPU sits at 25-27C idle (the Zalman had it at 33 or so). Plus it looks cool as all hell, it resembles the manifold on an engine.<br><br>By comparison, this G5 is at 54C idle. I wonder if I took off the sinks and put on some Arctic Silver if it would make a difference. <br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

I don't think ATi directly manufactures the cards, they just provide reference designs and supply the GPU's. I could be wrong of course.<br><br>Apple should also offer the 4870x2. That card is a real beast!<br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

The 8800GT is doing a good job for me. But give me more power and I'll take it.<br>I use some pro applications that would make good use of 4870's power also.<br><br>The truth is X-Plane relies as much on the cpu as it does the gpu.<br>The only reason I can't get maximum perforance from X-Plane is it does not make use of all the processor cores of the Mac Pro.<br>I am looking forward to Snow Leopard. I am hoping it will help.<br><br>Right now I am running X-Plane at extreme resolution with 4x anti-aliasing. <br>Very few people can do that.<br>I'd like to fill in the forest density to the extreme and fill in the number of objects. <br>Snow Leopard along with an 4870 may just be the ticket.<br><br>Aren't you glad you asked? <br><br>

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

I don't know for sure either.<br>Obviously nVidia does not make their own cards.<br>I think ATI does because you can buy the 3870 right from their web site.<br>You'll be able to buy the 4870 from their web site also.<br><br>4870x2 is the cat's meow. <br>IMO, Apple will never offer it in a million years. <br>I believe that even though it is one card, it requires a crossfire driver.<br>For whatever reason Apple has never offer sli or cf cards.<br><br><br>

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

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